Chicago PD is not back with new episodes until May 2024

Chicago PD fans are no stranger to breaks. There’s another one happening, but it looks like this should be the last one of the season.

The April 3 episode of Chicago PD was the only one of the month. As fans will have noticed, there wasn’t a promo for the next episode at the end of it, and that’s because there isn’t a new episode on tonight, Wednesday, April 10. There isn’t a new episode of the series on at all until May, according to Dev Discourse.

The good news that comes with this is that we shouldn’t have a break before the finale after this one. The bad news is there are only four more episodes of the season left. The show will return on Wednesday, May 1.

Why is Chicago PD off for all of April?

This break is likely to be two-fold. The main reason is linked to the fact that there are only 13 episodes in Chicago PD Season 11 due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes this summer. At least NBC shows have 13 episodes. CBS and ABC shows are only getting 10 episodes!

NBC will want to finish out the TV season as normal. That means airing finales in May. It makes sense to put the episodes on in May because this is when Neilsen does its big sweep for the TV ratings. This helps with decisions such as setting return dates and some scheduling needs for the next TV season. It can also help with some of the final cancellation and renewal decisions.

On top of this is the production need. Every other break, Chicago PD has had a trailer that tells us exactly when the episodes will return. That’s not happened this time, and it suggests that the next episode isn’t ready for us. Production and post-production work take a long time.

There are four episodes of Chicago PD Season 11 left. With the May 1 return date, that suggests the finale will air on Wednesday, May 22, which is pretty similar to previous finales.

Chicago PD airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.